November 26, 2025 by Bob Schmidt

Now that each team has played twenty games, I have assembled my version of a power rankings chart. I created this chart based only on each team’s first twenty games, their overall record in those twenty games, the strength of each team’s quality of competition in those twenty games, and how they fared against the stronger, mid tier, and weaker teams.

The Devils appear to elevate their game against the stronger teams. Eleven of their thirteen wins have been against tier one and tier two teams at time of play, including a perfect record versus the tier one teams. Half of their games during this segment went into extra time. In fact, all five of those games came consecutively. They won four of those. The loss of Jack Hughes, who’s out with a hand injury until at least January, leaves the bulk of the offensive load to be carried by Jesper Bratt for the next little while.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, @DetroitRedWings. pic.twitter.com/q3ZMYJw6AG

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) November 25, 2025

What isn’t this Avalanche team capable of? At the time of this writing, Colorado was in the middle of a nine-game winning streak. They have only one regulation time loss during this season so far. Nathan MacKinnon is a man possessed right now and leads the NHL in goals and points, averaging over a point and a half per game. Goaltender Scott Wedgewood leads the NHL in wins and seems to have taken the number one starter role from Mackenzie Blackwood, who started the season on the injury list. The Avs have the top offense in the league averaging four goals per game AND the top defense in the league allowing only 2.18 goals against per game.

The Red Wings are still sticking around on this list on the strength of ten of their twelve wins having been against the tier one and two teams at time of play. The trio of forwards Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin, and Lucas Raymond are all averaging over a point per game and have led their squad to second place in the Atlantic Division at the time of this writing. Head coach Todd McLellan, in his first full season as the Detroit bench boss, looks keen to build on the progress this team made under him last season when they went eight games over .500 with McLellan at the helm to finish the season.

The Ducks started off this segment with five straight wins which came the tail end of a seven-game win streak overall. Anaheim is one of the youngest teams in the NHL and are finally seeing the fruits of their seven year rebuild. Their three top scorers of Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, and Troy Terry have an average age of 24. That is boosted by the elder statesman of the trio, 28-year-old Terry. The majority of the roster is in their prime age or younger, which bodes well for a continued upwards trajectory of this California team.

Play those drums, Ben! #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/XqiBVo5NAM

— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) November 23, 2025

The Canes hold tight in the middle section of this top ten list, gaining as many points in this ten-game segment as they did in the first ten-game segment (14-14). Carolina thrives on consistency, having a points percentage of over .600 for five consecutive seasons, and their depth scoring plays a large factor in that. Their top eight point scorers are within ten points of each other at the time of this writing, which contributes to them having the third best offense in the league with 3.5 goals scored per game. There’s a log jam in the crease at the moment with veteran Frederik Andersen, last season’s starter Pyotr Kochetkov, and highly touted rookie Brandon Bussi all competing for ice time. That could be an interesting scenario to keep an eye on as this season progresses.

Dallas moved on from head coach Peter DeBoer after he led the team to three consecutive Conference Finals but were never able to move beyond that. In comes Glen Gulutzan, who returns to the franchise that gave him his first NHL head coaching job fourteen years earlier. It appears to be a seamless transition so far as the Stars sit in second in the Central Division and are a top ten team overall. The real test though will be the playoffs where Dallas hopes they can finally cross the Conference Finals threshold and reach the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 2020. It remains to be seen if Gulutzan, who has reached the Cup Finals each of the last two seasons as an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oilers but is a career 0-4 in the playoffs as a head coach, is the guy that can help guide them there.

This Long Island team has caught fire. After only winning four games in the first segment, the Islanders rattled off seven wins in this segment. That made them jump up 21 spots in these rankings, which is the most of any team. What’s even more impressive is that they accomplished this despite having a seven-game road trip in this segment. They won six of those games, three of which came in overtime. Forward Bo Horvat is scoring at a 50-goal pace, and last summer’s first overall draft pick, defenceman Matthew Schaefer, has quickly established himself as the Isles’ main man on the back end. Schaefer leads all Islander skaters in icetime, averaging 23 minutes per game, and is the early favourite for the Calder Trophy.

Let’s keep it rollin’ pic.twitter.com/fSpXNPvhMq

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) November 21, 2025

The Kraken have quietly gotten off to a great start this season. First year Seattle head coach Lane Lambert has emphasized his team’s defensive focus as the key to their success and, at the time of this writing, their 2.55 average goals against per game is the second stingiest in the NHL. General manager Jason Botterill’s big move this past summer was the acquisition of Mason Marchment from the Dallas Stars who has gotten off to a bit of a slow start with his new team. The hope in Seattle is that once Marchment finds his stride, it will provide an uptick in the team’s offense which, when combined with the strong team defense, will help them reach the playoffs for only the second time in the franchise’s six seasons.

The Jets embarked on their longest road trip of the season during this segment. The six game trip, which saw them start in Los Angeles and then end up north in Calgary, was not a kind one for Winnipeg as they won only two of those six games. However, they had been a very consistent team leading up to that trip and had not suffered any consecutive losses after the first twelve games of the season. That, and a five-game win streak during the first segment, is enough to keep them in the top ten one more time. With the loss now of three-time Vezina Trophy winner and the reigning Hart Trophy winner goaltender Connor Hellebuyck until at least December after a knee surgery, it will be interesting to see how that affects this Manitoba team in this upcoming ten-game segment.

After a disastrous start to the season, which saw them lose six of their first seven games, Tampa Bay seems to be back to their winning ways. The Bolts had no consecutive losses during this segment, and their 83% winning percentage versus tier one teams is the second best in the NHL. Nikita Kucherov leads the team in points as per usual, and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has fortified his crease after an uncharacteristically bad start for him. The 2021 Conn Smythe Trophy winner lost his first five games of the season, but has only lost twice more in his eleven games since. The loss of the 2020 Conn Smythe winning defenceman Victor Hedman until December could be a momentum stopper for this upward trending team.

As for the Edmonton Oilers, they moved up into the tier two level of teams, jumping up five spots from 21^st to 16^th on this list.

Related: NHL Power Rankings: 10-Game Mark